Motsoko Pheko
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Dr. Motsoko Pheko is a South African lawyer, author, historian , theologian ,academic , politician and perhaps most prominently known as a leading Pan Afrikan Thinker on par with Nkrumah,Nyerere, Cabral, Du Bois , Garvery and Sobukwe. His writings have advanced Pan Afrikanism and located it within today's complex Afrikan and global context.Widely travelled, Pheko has been on nearly every continent promoting the message of Pan Afrikanism ,self determination and the Afrikan personality and its many points of entry in an evolving world.
His life has been inspiring collage of service, excellence and courage.Born to a wealthy rural family in Lesotho, he and his brother went to live in South Africa in the 1930s upon the sudden death of their parents. They were raised by Mrs EM Moerane their late mother's sister. From an early age Pheko had a sharp sense of right and wrong which led him to the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania [PAC] as a very young man.
Since 1960 Motsoko Pheko has been a member of the P.A.C. and served with distinction in several different capacities including Organiser, Branch Chairperson ,Country Representative and Member of Parliament[MP]. Pheko served as a representative of the PAC to the United Nations in New York ,in Geneva at the United Nations in addition to working in the UK,Zambia and Tanzania. Pheko was the president of the P.A.C. in Azania until he stepped down in 2006.Previously he was the Deputy President in three cabinets from 1995 to 2003. This is the longest presidential term in PAC history.
He and his wife escaped to exile in 1963 when Pheko skipped bail. He undoubtedly would have become a graduate of the 'Robben Island University' had he not heeded the insistence of his seniors Sobukwe and Mothopeng that he leave. Pheko's wife Mrs Ntsioua Pheko followed him to Swaziland with their first child while expecting another.Like many struggle wives of the era such as Elizabeth Sibeko, Catherine Ntloedibe, Lauretta Ngcobo , Priscilla Gumane and Winnie Mandela among others,she was a freedom fighter in her own right whose contribution to the struggle although not well documented deserves its own place in history.Together Dr and Mrs Pheko have raised three successful daughters, Mohau, Mamello and Lebohang.
Pheko was galvanised by 30 years of wrongful exilement along with imprisonment and his efforts at the UN were materially instrumental to the demollition of apartheid and colonialism. He suffered imprisonment in South Africa , Mozambique and Rhodesia for his anti colonial activities and was encouraged to struggle hard against Apartheid although this was not always easy. During this time his mother Mrs EM Moerane was constantly interrogated and intimidated by the notorious South African Secret police. By all accounts she never revealed a single detail of her son's whereabouts and died in 1993 just a year before her son was finally permitted to come home to Azania. His beloved brother Ramaone Pheko, also a radical Pan Africanist, was killed in 1977 under circumstances which remain suspect. Pheko and his family were denied the opportunity to bury him.The separation from family and loved ones is one of the stories common to so many icons and veterans of the liberation struggle in South Africa, and the grief of this sacrifice can never be measured.
Pheko holds B.A. from the University of South Africa [UNISA]where he majored in Political Science, Systematic Theology,Sociology, and History.UNISA has honoured their illustrious alumni with an archive that holds many of Pheko's works. Pheko also holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the Univerity of Zambia, a Master of Law degree in International Law from the University of London, a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the University of Kensington and a Doctrate in Theology. He is currently an advocate in the High Courts of South Africa and Zambia. Most currently he serves as a member of Parliament and has distinguished himself as a peerless pubic servant.His incisive questions and statements in Parliament bring much needed integrity , courage and intellectual sharpness to debates.In 2003 the Business Day in South Africa heralded his speech on political party floor crossing as arguably the best of the year. And again he is the longest serving PAC MP to date.
Dr. Pheko is author of several books on topics such as history, law, political science and theology. A sample of them are the seminal "Apartheid:The Story of the Dispossessed people", a masterpiece in terms of analysing the colonial question in South Africa and locating it within a political and economic framework. The book though published over 20 years ago continues to receive plaudits.The dozens of others include the excellent "The Rise of Azania ,the Fall of South Africa","Betrayal of a Colonised People" which is a superb take on the hollow, western human rights arguments relating to Apartheid, "The early Church in Africa" which through rigorous academic standards and deep conviction reclaims the history of Christianity in Africa to a place before the continent and the faith were colonised. Pheko has been prolific in his output and over the past 50 years has written thousands of articles, essays and discussion papers internationally on topics as wide reaching as Use of Force in Coinflict, Human Rights, Social relations , Afrikan Relativsm, Theology, Afrikan history ,Gender reltions within the Afrikan society,Afrikan Women in history and ofcourse many dimensions of Pan Afrikansm among many others.
Pheko has successfully worked in theological circles at persuading leading clergy and pastors of the evil that is Apartheid with his refreshing and dynamic Afrikan take on Liberation Theology of which he is a leading proponent in Afrika. He cut his teeth as a young journalist in the 1950s and early 1960s working at "Our Africa" , a leading African based magazine of the era whose aim was to inform and educate the African population on social and theological issues.The young Pheko used the platform to explore his own theories on Apartheid, social dissent and African thinking and rose to be Managing Editor by the age of 29.Needless to say ,the Apartheid regime already had their eyes on him. While in exile he successfully ran a Christian Publishing House called World Literature Crusade of which he was the Africa Managing Director for fifteen years. This is where he contributed significantly to the body of work on liberation theology and Christianity in the Afrikan context. Pheko has been a lay preacher for many years always guided by his faith and his conviction of helping to realise the United States of Afrika.
In keeping with his strong academic inclination Dr. Pheko is the founder of Daystar University in Kenya one of the leading universities in that region. Daystar has produced some of the preeminent media and communications practitioners and broadcasters in Afrika. Pheko is also founder and Chair of Tokoloho Development Association in South Africa. Tokoloho is a trust which promotes research of indigenous knowledge of the African people before they were colonized and publishes the results. Tokoloho is se Sotho and translates into'Freedom'. A most fitting epitaph.